McPhail Scholarship in full

The Macphail Scholarship was established in 2005, as a partnership between The Robertson Trust and Scottish Rugby.

Created in memory of John Macphail ex-Scotland Internationalist (1949-1951), the scholarship was initially developed for talented young players however, since 2011, it has been extended to support coaches with Iain Monaghan, Ben Fisher and Chris Paterson being recent recipients.

Scottish Rugby Technical Director, Stephen Gemmell, added: “Thank you to the Robertson Trust and Macphail family for their continued support of Scottish Rugby and in helping us send some of our most promising young players to other parts of the world to further their development in new environments, with different coaches, fresh challenges and at world-class facilities.

“The Scholarship has played an important role in a number of our current professional and international players’ careers and will provide a launch pad for Angus, Andrew and Guy to accelerate their development as part of the BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academy.”

Kenneth Ferguson, Director of the Robertson Trust, said: “Guy, Andy and Angus have exceptional potential and I’m in no doubt all three will prove to be worthy recipients of the scholarship.

“The launch of the new programme makes this year’s announcement particularly exciting, and I, along with the Macphail family and all at The Robertson Trust, look forward to hearing about the players’ progress throughout their time in South Africa and beyond.

“Through the John Macphail Scholarship, The Robertson Trust has assisted in the development of some of Scotland’s brightest young rugby talent for over 13 years. We are proud of this legacy and believe the programme’s new setup, and all the experiences it will bring, will help to accelerate the development of even more professional and international players going forward.”